Leah, who was, even now, insidiously unfurling the iron fist with which he ruled his...
No!
Moving his right foot forward, Stavros swung his left hook with a vicious fury. The thwack of his knuckle against Dmitri’s jaw, and the hiss of his exhale, followed by the filthiest curse words reverberated in the quiet.
Shock flashed in Dmitri’s eyes.
That Stavros had gone on the offense when it had always been about letting Dmitri work through one of his tempers, who learned to use his fists on the streets of London amidst gangs, spoke to his ragged control.
“Ding, ding,” Dmitri mocked, dark amusement in his gaze. “Point for Leah Huntington Sporades.”
Gritting his jaw, Stavros shot him a filthy look.
Massaging his jaw with one hand, Dmitri reached for a bottle of water with the other. “In all the years that we have known each other, you have never gone on the offensive. Today’s win has to go to her.”
Knowing how cunningly perceptive Dmitri was, Stavros decided to leave. It had been a miracle in itself that Dmitri had—showing what Giannis would have called uncharacteristic wisdom—left Stavros alone after Leah’s latest stunt.
He didn’t want to discuss Leah, with him of all people.
Dmitri’s jaw was already black and blue, and for once, Stavros enjoyed the result of his loss of control. “Put some ice on it.”
Dmitri stopped him with a hand on his arm. “You’re pushing it too far, Stavros.”
“Leave it alone, Dmitri.” He knew exactly what his friend was talking about.
Moving around him, Dmitri blocked his path. “You went above and beyond what Giannis asked of you. Wash your hands off.”
Giannis, to whom he and Dmitri owed their entire world, had asked for only one thing in return after becoming their salvation when they had been nothing but uneducated thugs.
And Stavros had failed spectacularly at it. “Have you forgiven yourself for everything you have ever done? Or failed to do?”
All emotion seeped out of Dmitri’s face, leaving an uncaring mask in its place. “Do I look like I have been punishing myself for the last decade?”
Stavros made a doubtful sound of assent in his throat. “See you next week.”
“Giannis asked you to protect her, Stavros, ne?” His breath hung in his throat as Stavros waited. “But what I saw two days ago... He should have entrusted me with Leah. I would have seduced her within the day, made her fall in love with me and then cast her aside after a week. She would have learned her lesson.
“But you—”
Stavros curled his hand around his friend’s throat, fury filling every vein. The thought of Dmitri seducing and throwing away Leah made him crazy like a rabid dog he had once put down as a teenager. “She is not one of your party bunnies, Dmitri. She’s...she’s Leah.”
His breathing loud to his own ears, Stavros stilled. Dmitri watched him with hooded eyes, not even trying to shake off his grip. They both knew what he had been about to say.
She is my wife.
When had he become so possessive of Leah? When had she gone from a chain around his neck to something that could incite him like this?
“To see Stavros Sporades’s ironclad control unravel like this... But even a man made of stone would have noticed that gorgeous body. Leah could always get under your skin so easily,” Dmitri continued, frowning, “but now, she has another weapon to wield against you.”
“Enough, Dmitri! I don’t interfere in your life nor pass judgment on it.”
“But Leah is not just any woman. If you’re doing this just because you suddenly have the hots for your little wife—”
“Some days, I don’t know whether to call you friend or foe.”
Dmitri didn’t even blink. “You are the most honorable man I know, Stavros. Until I met you, I didn’t know what it was. There are days when I still don’t. But Leah’s threat concerns Giannis. You need to make a decision soon.”
“I already made one. Five years ago.”
“Then why have you left her under someone else’s care, kept her at a distance? Either she’s truly your wife or you’re through with her.
“You can’t hang both your lives in limbo as if it was some sort of penance.”
A chill seeped into his skin despite the fact that he was sweating. Stavros let Dmitri go. “What if she hasn’t changed? What if she...”
“Give her a chance at least, Stavros. To prove you right or wrong.”
It was Dmitri that finally left the room.
Everything Dmitri had said was stuff he had already been over a thousand times.
The moment Dmitri had called him, guilt had clung to Stavros.
All his life, he had tried to do his duty by his grandparents, by Calista, by Giannis. He hadn’t let his own fears or wants matter. He had always done the right thing. He knew what he had to do now, knew Leah deserved a chance. And yet, he wavered, for the first time in his life.
Never had his mind or body been so out of sync as it was now.
Five years ago, he had let his anger detract him, and now the intensity of his want for her was a weakness he had never had to deal with before. He wiped his face and looked at himself in the mirror.
He had let nothing but his responsibilities, his sense of duty, guide him his entire life.
Nothing was going to change that, not his reckless, selfish, brazen wife of all people in the world.
CHAPTER FOUR
STANDING AT THE small balcony that offered a view of the colorful Athens evening ahead, Leah looked out.
She had been running for the past hour, the one thing that had always grounded her. Yet, all she felt like was running away, and this time, not looking back.
The panic-fueled urge was like an itch under her skin, a fire in her nerves.
It was a quarter past five and already the cafes and eateries were filling up with locals and tourists alike. Laughter and excited phrases in Greek swirled up through the air. It was a sight that had brought her a smile countless number of times after another long, lonely day. Today, it couldn’t dispel her anxiety even a little bit.
Sighing, she went back inside. The pristine white walls that she had refused to adorn with even a single photo closed in on her and she started pacing.
Why hadn’t she run away before now? Why hadn’t she walked away from Stavros and this...pitiful thing between them that was a marriage, and not looked back?
Had she been so lonely to cling to this familiar world even knowing that she could never be close to her grandfather in the way it mattered? Had even Stavros’s punishment been better than facing a life alone in the world?
She would never forgive herself for the part she had played in it, but, to this day, she had no idea that Calista had been using. Had no idea that hiding Calista’s involvement in everything Stavros had abhorred about Leah would go that far.
Had no idea what it was about Stavros that made the worst parts of her manifest so well.
Impulse and fear making her movements jerky, she reached her closet and pulled out a shoulder bag that had collected dust from sitting unused for so long. Grabbed a few clothes and threw them in the bag.
For two days, she had waited calmly, taking Philip’s advice to not do anything rash. Had waited for the explosion from Stavros to come. Had barely slept a wink, was driving herself crazy.
She couldn’t wait to see if Stavros would take her bait. She would have to cut her ties, beginning with this flat and her job.
Just as she grabbed her phone, it pinged and the name Stavros popped up on her screen.
Leah dropped it with a gasp, her heart jamming in her throat. Perspiration condensed on her forehead as she stared down at the phone on the dull carpet.
It pinged again, jolting her out of her haze. She swiped it open to the text.
Come down to the café in ten minutes. I have an offer for you.
An offer? Could she trust him? Had she finally got through to him?
Will scream if I see your ‘security guys.’
She waited, her breath hanging in her throat.
Enough drama, Leah. Come down or I come upstairs.
The thought of Stavros invading her private space, as much of a jail as it was, sent her fingers flying over the phone.
Fine, see you in a bit.
Feeling more hopeful than she’d been in months, she was about to step into the shower when it pinged again.
Leah...Dress appropriately.
Leaning against the bathroom wall, she made an utterly juvenile face at the phone. The small space thundered with the boom of her heart.
Stavros was here because he had bought her bluff. It wouldn’t do to let on how petrified she was inside, to let him set the tone for this conversation.
It was like a mask she had to wear and the more she did it, the more it felt like she would become that uncaring, selfish person that he had always despised.
* * *
He had said ten minutes.
By the time he spied her crossing the street from her building to the café, it was well over half an hour. In true Leah form, she had also blatantly disregarded his last text.
The peach-colored silk blouse pressed against her body, neatly delineating the globes of her high breasts as a gust of wind blew across the street. He saw her shiver and grab the edges of the long-sleeved cardigan together.
Heat uncoiled under his own skin, a soft, sinuous gathering of something molten.
The silk blouse was paired with an even more flimsy pair of shorts that showcased her long legs. The glint of a toned thigh muscle, the way her wavy brown hair swept into a high ponytail swung with her long-limbed stride as she walked toward the café in her knee-high leather boots turned more than one male head.